Many owners of domestic birds like to let their birds periodically fly free in their homes and offices where the birds normally reside in cages. Free flying encourages health in the birds, keeps their spirits up, and is enjoyed by the owners and their guests. Birds tend to fly to windows where sunlight is admitted to the home or office, and they like to perch there at least on window sills, mid-level curtain rods, plants, and other places where they can warm themselves and look out at the world through the window glass. Birds with clipped wings can climb on ladders, braided rope or leather, and the like from floor or cage level to window levels for sitting on perches. However, birds also tend to peck and to make droppings where they perch, leaving messes below them and causing damage to the wood and putty of the window area. Cold drafts coming off the window glass in cold weather can lead to illnesses in tropical birds. Several attempts are known for solving parts of these problems.
An accessory to an Oakridge Parrot Palace-brand line of bird travel cases provides a “travel/window perch”. The device is triangular in section and has four clear plastic sides, holes in the bottom for attaching atop a travel case, and “may also be attached to windows with suction cups”. The window-side wall of the perch does not rise significantly above the level of the perch rod, however, so a bird sitting on the rod can easily peck at the window sash. The side walls of the Oakridge perch also are low, allowing pecking at sides of the window sash or a side of the window opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,720,188 shows a portable bird perch with a suction cup holding a perch rod perpendicular to a window or other surface and suspending a droppings pan beneath it. No means for attaching the perch or pan to, or supporting either on, a window sill are shown or suggested. No shields or barriers are shown, so the window sash remains exposed for pecking.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,507 shows an exterior window perch for wild birds to alight upon adjacent a window for people to watch the birds from inside the house. A droppings pan is suspended beneath a perch rod on wires. No barriers to pecking are provided, but the rod is said to be sufficiently far from the window glass as to avoid pecking by a bird that is sitting on the perch rod.
US Design Patent D-363368 shows an ornamental form of sectional bird perch with outer and bottom walls of clear material. The outer wall again is short and would not protect the sash from pecking.
A need has long existed for a perch for an indoor domestic bird adapted for use adjacent a window in a home or office, having features to protect the window glass and sash from pecking damage by a bird using the perch. A need has also long existed for means for protecting a bird on such a perch from cold drafts coming off the window glass during cold weather times.